With travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, it would be a short riding week. On Monday after a whole day working in the yard, did a quick indoor spin as my legs were still tired from the day before. Got enough sun, by raking the lawn already.
Tuesday had planned to do the long 18 mile NCC TT, but when Dusty invited me to join him on the Hill climb group ride out of Greenfield, went there instead.
With a great group of riders got a real good workout and as we were regrouping provided a good opportunity for socializing.
We went out on Shelburne rd and from there worked our way north towards but not all the way to Colrain. From there we rode back to Greenfield. Everytime I was standing the chain would skip between coggs. Turned out the skewer that kept the rear wheel in place had come loose, that explained it. A bit of scary thought with the fast descend we had just done before. Fortunately we returned safely.
Wednesday I planned a long endurance ride to Brattleboro. Dusty joined me on the ride. Despite a relatively ez start through Sunderland, Montegue and Northfield it turned more adventurous when we entered the bike path 7 miles south of Brattleboro. I had routed over the railbed to see what the conditions were and give it a shot.
Turned out to be a fun ride, the surface varied between gras, gravel and occasionally some mud. For my 38mm tires this was not a problem. Dusty was a good sport with his road wheels and other than the muddy sections had a good time. Exiting the trail turned out to be a little more of a challenge as despite the main road and the trail being adjacent, the road went up, the trail however stayed at the river level. We could not go back on the road when the trail ended in a rail bridge over the river.
Dusty and I discussed it a little and decided to push forward and cross the river over the rail bridge. This was a bit challenging as we had to walk on the ties. Dusty's road shoes made it extra challenging. After about 15 minutes we arrived safely on the other side and found our way back on the road.
We then found Mocha Joe's coffee shop in Brattleboro for delicious Maple Lattes and Cookies. After finishing up our coffees we returned south along the west side of the Connecticut river.
We had a stiff head wind and decided to take turns upfront. Every mile we change turns until we rode more west-ward away from the river towards Huckle Hill rd and had quite a climb back into Massachusetts crossing Vermont border just below the highest point. From there we rode passed Bernardston and Gill into Turners Falls. After admiring the overflow channel we rode the bike path along it to River rd. There we rode towards Historic Deerfield and then up into Conway. A good long 86 miles in just under 6 hours of riding time.
Thursday Paula and I flew to Charlotte in North Carolina to visit our daughter Margot and boyfriend Brendan. Friday we had a nice little hike along a Wilie lake, after a great lunch at Papa Doc's at the other side of the lake. Saturday we did shopping for next day's Easter party.
Sunday before the party I went for a 3 mile run in the neighborhood called NODA. Never seen so many dogs being walked on a run.
This week on Veloviewer. Did not include the North Carolina adventures on the map.
